Learning Log Chapter 10

What?

Chapter 10 was on the subject of Social Cognitive Views of Learning. This seems to be a very holistic view of learning as that which comes from both a students interactions with their environment, and the people in it, combined with what is already in them individually...called reciprocal causation. Some ways of learning without experiencing are by watching another person (modeling) or learning from other's mistakes (vicarious reinforcement or punishment). An important point made in this chapter was the introduction of the term self-regulation as the ability of the individual to make decisions on how they will go about achieving goals and learning.

So what?

I saw some similarities between the social-cognitive theory and Vygotsky's theory: learning happens through one's interaction with and observation of their environment. What I did like was the student or individual centered aspect of this kind of learning. Sometimes it is hard to understand one's self from a third party view point but we can cultivate self-regulated behavior by taking honest evaluation of our strengths and weaknesses (self-efficacy) and acting on what we know of ourselves.


Now what?

A lot of what was discussed in this chapter made me feel a little helpless as a teacher because students are just drinking in information from their peers and environment all willy-nilly and I have no control over that. Because I cannot always monitor what a child takes in, what seems to be the most important impact a positive adult can have on a child is the encouraging of self-efficacy. I won't always be with the child when they learn or have to act on what they've learned but, by instilling in them the understanding that they can be and do what they want to be and do, I can offer support from a distance. Modeling was one of the points that seems scary because, as an adult, teacher or parent, children see what I am doing and will learn from it. The reinforcement of behaviors was also an important point for teachers.

Learning Log Chapter 9

What?

This chapter was on the much loved by Dr. Cox behaviorist theories. It included terms that should have been termed differently because they are confusing (i.e. negative reinforcement). Basically the chapter discussed the the idea that the study of behavior would produce evidence of learning. It also showed studies and theories on how to change that behavior through conditioning. The two types of conditioning are classical and operant. Classical conditioning is accomplished when two stimuli are presented at the same time thus increasing the desired behavior. Operant conditioning occurs when behavior is increased because of reinforcement.


So what?

Ah...so what? The problem/opportunity (as Doc Waters terms problems) is that we as teachers can inadvertently promote behavior that we do not approve of depending on how, how quickly, and how often we respond to student behavior.



Now what?

Well now I'm going to be over-analytical of everything I do...happy? Well, to a degree anyway. I will learn to recognize the types of stimuli to present so my students respond in a desired way. I will also be cautious of what kind of reinforcement illicits what kind of behavior and recognize that it will be different from student to student.